EPU Testing (continued):
So far it is clear that you can save a great deal of CPU power thanks to ASUS' EPU, but the total power saving is less noteworthy. Next we will see how performance is impacted with these various modes of operation.
3DMark Vantage was chosen to provide an overview of how system performance is impacted by EPU. It was executed at 1280x104, and in what FutureMark refers to as Performance mode.
Despite the difference in processor speed between the three modes, the CPU score is not all that different. But, the difference in total score is quite signifcant. Both high performance and turbo modes put up a total score double what the maximum power savings mode could achieve, so it is clear that you need to be in the right mode before doing resource intensive applications like playing 3D games.
Overclocking:
Thanks to the XMP profile, the E6850 processor was able to go from 333MHz to 400MHz bus speed without issue, and with just one click in the BIOS the first overclock was about as easy as you will find. Using the XMP profile settings as a starting point, the first manual overclock I attempted was simply to raise the multiplier in order to see if 3600MHz (9x 400MHz) was stable. With just a bit more CPU voltage for good measure, the system booted right up and was stable in OCCT and a few cycles of 3DMark Vantage.
After that I lowered the multiplier back to 8x and decided to work the bus speed up slowly. The memory modules were already running at their rated speed of 1600MHz, and the frontside bus was already overclocked, so any limitation might be hard to pinpoint. In the end, 3400MHz was my top speed, with the memory at 1700MHz (6.25% over stock), and the bus speed at 425MHz (27.6% over stock). The screenshots below show CPU-Z in order to confirm this data.
With such an extensive list of adjustable options in the BIOS, the P5E64 WS Evolution shouldn't be the limiting factor in the overclock achieved by most users. Granted, boards like the new 790i support higher memory frequencies by default, but otherwise the fine tuning features on the P5E64 WS Evolution are quite impressive.
